A Fun Walk

Hello, everyone.  Yesterday we took part on a large community walk. The La Lomita walk is an annual event of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Mission, Texas.  It is a Palm Sunday event, complete with donkeys and palm fronds.

They begin at the parish church and walk the 7 km (about 4 miles) from there to one of yhe oldest chapels in the area, La Lomita. 

Preparing to leave

The leading edge of the procession. 

The donkeys go along, but they get to ride. It's pretty warm in the afternoon at this season.

At the end of the walk.

While it's billed as a walk, accommodation is made for people who aren't able to walk. Strollers, bikes, golf carts, and even a contingent of autos participate. We enjoyed our afternoon walk with everyone. 

Walked at Bentsen State Park today

Hello, everyone. Today started out cloudy and cool, but we went over to the park anyway. There were a lot of birds for a change.

The turkeys were hanging out on the access road for the canal, later they went farther into the park and started vacuumung up all the dropped seed at the feeders. The boys did some tail fan displays but the girls didn't care.

There was a lone white pelican near the boat put-in, and a solitary roseate spoonbill as well. (Think big pink bird, not a flamingo.) 

The weather was good for walking, not too hot or cold and not much wind. The park has upgraded one of their bird blinds to have a roof and seating like their premium on on the ring road. This newly upgraded blind is in the very middle, accessible to a walk or bike only path. We saw a lot of cardinals and waxwings there. Green jays, of course. On the way out we also saw some chachalaca. So it was a nice bird-seeing day.

We got in a little over 2.5 miles today, this was a training walk to maintain fitness.

A pleasant walk at Bentsen Park

Hello, everyone. The weather today is what the local radio personality calls "Chamber of Commerce weather" which is lovely, partly cloudy, not too windy, and tee-shirt temperature. So we went over to the park for a little walk.

The park had scheduled a birding walk, and we were the only ones there so we walked over to the volunteer "bird guide" and invited ourselves along. He told us about birds, of course, and about the changes in wildlife and plant growth over time. It was very interesting. 

This little hawk was supervising the feeding stations. It doesn't need to be said that the small birds were a bit shy!

The wild turkeys were out and about and not afraid of anything. 

La Laguna to O Cebreiro, then Triacastela

Hello, everyone. We left La Laguna in the freshness (not to say "chill" at that altitude) of early morning. It's about a 5 kilometer (3 miles) walk to O Cebreiro. This mountain  top church was blessed with an Eucharistic miracle, some centuries back, when a layman's faith, and grace, scolded a disbelieving priest. The layman's, who was known in the area for his devotion, struggled through a horrid snowstorm and cold to make Mass. The priest asked why he would go through all this effort for, as the priest at that moment believed, a bit of bread and some wine. The host and the liquid in the chalice were promptly transformed into a more-obvious version of themselves, meat and blood. (For my non-Catholic readers, this is what the Church teaches about the Eucharist.) 

When we had passed through O Cebreiro in 2014, we forgot to visit the church to get a sello. This time we remembered. 

We also saw the tomb of Father Elias, the man who did so much or revive interest in and knowledge of the Camino de Santiago. This is the one who started painting the yellow arrows along the trails.

The is the only modern grave I have seen in a church. (Father Elias died a few years ago.) All of us pilgrims owe him a great debt.

After visiting O Cebreiro, we walked to Triacastela.  As this post is long, I will stop here.

Murias de Rechivaldo to Foncebadón

Hello, everyone.  Today, like yesterday,  was a more moderate walk. Strava clocked it as 23 km. It sounds so easy. The difference is, today was neither flat nor dry.

These progress markers have begun appearing. Murias at 4th one down is where we started today. El Ganso at the top was around midway. El Rabanal and Foncebadòn don't show on the marker.

For some reason there are giant teepees near the graveyard at El Ganso. Campground?

Wild bulbs in bloom beside the trail.

Strange, metallic beetle on the path, about the size of my thumbnail

Some of the wet, running path. This part was easy enough to pause for a photo. There were other parts with more stones, more water, and more mud. The way went mostly uphill today. I used my poles to keep balance while moving from spot to spot, and also to test the firmness of the surfaces.

Just before Foncebadòn, one last puddle to get around. (The blue-green blob up ahead is DH in his rain poncho.) The weather may have been wet, but it was warmer today. We actually took off layers of shirts and sweat shirts as we went. 

Hontanas to Carrion de las Condes

Hello, everyone.  I'm working on getting caught up on our Camino. This is the update on yesterday's walk.

This is the sign board at the entrance to Castrojeriz. I took a picture of the castle on the hill, but Blogger insists on turning it sideways, so I'm not going to include it here. We had breakfast there.

This is the flock of sheep that had preceded us out of Castrojeriz. The little dark blobs behind the sheep are fellow pilgrims. Also with the shepherd are 1 donkey and 1 sheepdog.

The sheep have turned off the road just where the grade warnings are posted. Yes, the climb was steep. And the far side was 18 degrees down slope, but only about 1/3 of a kilometer long.

This is where we stopped for the night.

Back on track with walking

Hello, everyone.  We're having pleasant weather this week, and we're getting back on track with walking. 

Yesterday we returned to one of our favorite training walks, the Mission Hike and Bike. This trail has a paved track with gentle inclines along the way. We walked 3 miles there yesterday and it was purely relaxing.

We also saw a little bit of wildlife. There was a first-time sight:

He or she had crawled out of the burrow, probably because the cloudy sky looked like evening to a "little " fuzzy spider.

There were also some roadrunners.

Today we walked at Bentsen State Park. We had a good pace and the 4 miles were so peaceful. 

Road trip report #3 (edited)

Hello, everyone.  This is another road trip post. I intend to do as many of them as I have decent photos to show.

A small selection of the many windmills at the Wind Power Museum.

The day after Lubbock was a walk day and also a make-progress day. We got out at a nice, early time and drove down the Interstate to Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

A view of the visitor center. They sell cold water there. There are also exhibits.

This is part of the Lighthouse Trail, a 5 mile out-and-back on the canyon floor. (We walked 4 of the miles. It was midday, and the temp was 90F so when we got to the 2 mile marker, we turned around and walked back to the car,  drove back to the visitor center, and drank the lovely cold water.) The walk is lovely and it reminded us of walking in 2023 on the southern parts of the Plata. Without the paved parts, of course! There are resting seats here and there along the trail. The Lighthouse of the trail name is a rock formation.

Palo Duro is one of the projects worked on by the men of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's. There is a room with exhibits about the CCC in the visitor center, as well as information about geology and the interactions various groups of people had with each other on the area.

After our walk, we drove to Trinidad, Colorado. Trinidad is growing. It seems to be getting popular with the ski crowd.

(Edited to fix the state location for Trinidad. Sorry!)